Bribri media tantum verbs and the rise of labile syntax

Linguistics. 2022. Vol. 60. No. 2. P. 617–657.

Pacchiarotti S., Kulikov L.

In this article, we first show that the Bribri (Chibchan) middle voice suffix -r derives passive voice from active transitive and agentive intransitive verbs, as well as anticausative verbs from nominal and adjectival roots. Second, we focus on five media tantum verbs, i.e., forms that synchronically carry the -r suffix and have no counterpart without -r. Unlike most other verbs, these five forms are labile, i.e., they can occur in syntactically intransitive and transitive constructions with no (supra-)segmental change. After describing the valence patterns in which Bribri media tantum labile (MTL) verbs occur, we investigate whether: (i) their non-absolutive arguments behave like ergative phrases; and whether (ii) MTL verb forms in two-argument constructions behave like active voice transitive verb stems. Third, we outline a hitherto unnoticed diachronic path for the rise of lability in a small subgroup of Bribri media tantum verbs.

Keywords: labile verbs, лабильность, средний залог, пассивный залог, anticausative, passive, лабильные глаголы, пассив, morphosyntax, lability, морфосинтаксис, middle voice, антикаузатив, Bribri (Chibchan), media tantum, morphosyntactic mismatches, Брибри (чибчанский), media tantum, морфосинтаксические несоответствия

Publication based on the results of: The inner and outer dynamics of cultural processes in the Oriental societies and its traditional foundations: languages, history and religion (2022)